I played at which can only be described as "unhealthy" amounts from 1999 to 2004, when I started playing WoW, but only casually with WoW since I was somewhat burned from Everquest.

I can say that I definitely gained some things from playing EQ that much. On the flip side, I gave up an awful lot for it. I was in a high end raiding guild, although we were pretty much 2nd Tier, not the trail-blazers, but the next ones in line.

I even ran the guild for 6 months, what a headache that was. It was tough but rewarding. I don't think I've experienced a single day at work that has been as hairy as breaking hate the first time.

I was at the helm for our first successful Trak run, what an experience!

I was a monk, a class that was somewhat undefined for the majority of thier careers, from misunderstood damage dealers / pullers, to overpowered tricksters, to the nerfed, gelatinous, and marginal class that they became. I wore the badge proud. I still have a "monkly business" long sleeve t-shirt and a coffee mug that I bought to keep Zadkiels board going.

Even though I played it a lot more that I should have. EQ had some of the best memories I had in gaming. I remember breaking Hate, Fear, and exploring Velious for the first time. How awesome! Killing Nagafen with 50 people, then coming back to Duo him with a monk/Shaman only two years later. Simply amazing. From Camping Sol B and Guk for the robe of the lost circle, and in turn the Robe of the whistling fist. To pulling in the planes of power and breaking into Castle Mistmoore, I still haven't experienced the rush you got from sitting in the throne of the conquered King of the giants (Tomax?) in any real sense since those days..

I have fond memories of the game, although I'm glad I quit playing it. At some point I had to get one and go do something with my life. What an experience though!

wow, what a throwback to hear of this game. Sorry for reviving a dead thread. Even though I didn't get all uber in Everquest, I remember it felt it was more satisfying than WoW. One thing I liked a lot more in EQ was how you could buff/twink lower level characters very easily. Also hated how there wasn't a movement speed buff like Spirit of Wolf in WoW. Those were some fun times but I don't really game anymore.

I still think it was the best/most invigorating/ most intense game I've ever played. You just couldn't get away from it. It was so much harder than WoW, and I think that added to the appeal. There were no caps for #'s in raids, there was no auction house (for almost the whole time I played at least), there were no in game maps, no was no quest log (everything had to be looked up outside the game or by word of mouth), every good dungeon required a decently complicated key to get in and most classes couldn't solo to level, you had to be in a group. It was just awesome. I was in a top tier guild and we were usually the first to take down everything and I got some insane gear that way, but eventually there were just too many expansions and it was just taking up too much of my life. I still wish sometimes I could go back to the day and play it like it used to be, with all the old players and such. It was just so much more "epic" than WoW, and more addicting in my opinion. I played WoW on and off for a couple years, and never really got addicted because it was never really like EQ. I don't think there will ever be a game like it again, because everything is aimed towards user-friendly, easy to follow/level games that can appeal to kids because of their learning curves. EQ had such a steep learning curve it was almost ridiculous. Oh yeah, it was awesome that you could "twink" low levels with insane gear.

I played EQ1 from day 1 and then for I think 3-4 years. That game was awesome, but it became more like a job than a hobby.

I was the only DE that I know of that got the Aegis of Life, man did that take some camping. Can't remember the name of the zone, but it had the Aviak tower in it. I once played 15 hours straight to get to lev 46 (I think) so I could raid PoH to get my Purple gear for my Cleric.

Lower Guk camps just rocked. Epic trains and corpse retrieval runs!

I played EQ2 from day 1 too. Was a co-leader of a moderately good guild that just started to do some of the better raids, then drama struck and that kinda fell apart. I then moved exclusively to PVP and had a blast at first, but then they really f'd up PVP mechanics and I just gave up.

No active sub's at all right now. If EQ3 comes out I am NOT going to play, it's too addictive.

from beta till PoP. Was in the top guild on my server from the very beginning. There are no memories like my original EQ memories. From Upper guk as a young troll, to killing Lockjaw in Oasis. Sitting in EC for hours on end peddling gear, camping for 20 hours for the Guise of the Deciever because I was a fat troll that couldn't fit properly into Solusek. Breaking Hate was definitely one of the most challenging tasks in EQ history. People don't remember we were doing it in TERRIBLE GEAR. Holding short swords of the ykesha, Mith 2handers, and Exe axes. I remember getting the crystalline spear from Vox and thinking how tough I was. The place with the birds and the towers was the biggest time sink of all time, Aka. PoA or Plane of Air. Hopping from level to level.

Exploring Kunark on day 1 was phenomenal and will never be matched by any experience in any other MMO forever. That was truly a feeling of wonder and excitement. The longest stretch of good times though was Velious. Velious was by far the best expansion they made, after that it was all down hill. ToV had me hooked like never before. Those were some very good times that this Troll warrior deeply misses. I had a great time, and managed to salvage a pretty decent high school social life as well.

There will never be another game like EQ again, because there were no real MMO's before it. It was perfect and can never be matched.

ahh good times. pulling solb to nag...what a rush. I would run up the stairs before the door to nag, turn around and see a 50 person army ready for war. Then run in and smack that b*tch

Being a Male Human Monk myself, I remember this exact scenario every time! It was the best time for MMO RPG's, it was before the internet really came and took out all the mystery and real sense of adventure. All my best online memory's were with EQ1, first time grouping in a party to venture to distant lands. I think I was about lvl 10 and shouted around for a group to travel from Qeynos to Freeport because my younger brother and friends started there! It was insane at the time because there were no maps the concept of Hugging the wall to go from point A-B was not even thought of yet! Adventuring through Rivervale, running for our lives because we were such nubs at the time. In the end I was the only survivor it took more than half the day to cross over to Freeport, my most epic adventure todate. Then came WOW with the internet cheat sheet took out all the adventure everything is just a grind now. These new players will never understand what we had!

Wow, good to see the monks representing, even if it's over a year later 8)

It's strange, but the mind-numbing difficulty of the game definitely made the rewards that much sweeter.

I remember reading online that you could get mesh gloves (needed to hit some magical monsters, as a monk your options for hand equipment was extremely limited) in this place called "Guk" it was over 5 zones away from my home of Freeport (the city of men, ha!) and filled with danger the entire way. I remember running like hell from a Sand Giant along the way, scared to death (even though it wasn't even chasing me) and eventually getting there and farming Guk frogs for FIVE HOURS, and still didn't get the gloves to drop. I think I logged out there and woke up the next morning and put in another 2 hours to get them. All this just to get the ability to hit magical monsters at an impossibly low level (i'm guessing I was like lvl 5 or something)

It was very, very hard. We have kind of been spoiled by recent titles where there is little/no penalty for dying. It kind of makes me want to pick up Demon's Souls to see if that difficultly level results in the same kind of fondness for the game. Just because I remember the good times doesn't mean I forgot how frustratingly difficult that game was, not only was the environment hard, you had to (for the first time for many of us) deal with other PEOPLE in a co-operative (non-death match) environment. Complete with their insecurities, strengths, neurotic tendencies, and childish squabbles over loot drops. Remember loot ninjas? While there were good times, there were also two holes in my drywall from trying to resolve a loot squabble between two guildies. ( I can't believe a game where this virtual property got me so pissed off, but it did, we lost 10 guild mates from the fallout of that one.)

It was a great game though. Even though it wasn't the first MMORPG, or the most polished, It was amazing in it's depth and complexity.

ahh good times. pulling solb to nag...what a rush. I would run up the stairs before the door to nag, turn around and see a 50 person army ready for war. Then run in and smack that b*tch

cool, I was on tarrew marr myself. half elf male druid.

I remember when I first started EQ on the first day I thought to myself, "wtf am I suppose to do? or go even?" Even later on, I still remember getting lost in the game. In later expansions they made it much easier for newbies, but I remember playing the game right about when kunark came out. Back in those days you had to go to some zone I can't remember (greater faydar? I remember it was next to butcher block) to try and sell your wares through chat.

I was a hardcore EQ junkie from 1999 until 2006. I was the first warrior to hit level 50 on E'ci server and became a member of Souls of the Shadows there until 2002, the rest of my time my main character was a cleric. I ended up owning 7 accounts all with high end raid capable characters on them. Yes, I macroquested, could even kill tier 2 raid mobs on my own with my group - at that time (2005-2006) I felt like that was the only challenge left for me. I retired as a member of Dark Horizon, the premier guild on Xegony. I look back at my EQ time as both good and bad. I had to give up a lot to maintain my play style which was insane - my cleric had over 750 days on it by the time I retired. I used to miss it some, but not now - life moves on!